China, not US, is to blame for West PHL Sea militarization —US envoy

The militarization of the West Philippine Sea is due to China's actions and not of the United States, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said on Tuesday night.

Kim was responding to the comments made by President Rodrigo Duterte this year that it is the US that should be blamed for the reclamation activities done by Beijing in the West Philippine Sea because Washington did not do anything about it.

"I’m not sure if it's really fair to point a finger at the United States because we're not doing anything. It's China that's taking aggressive unilateral actions in the disputed area,” Kim said in an ANC interview.

"China has obviously taken unilateral measures. They had indicated that they will refrain from militarization, but it appears that they have not," Kim added.

In May this year, China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems, which can reach as far as 295 nautical miles of the reefs and 160 nautical miles, respectively, in the Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands which are all within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines sued China before the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2013 due to China's aggression and incursions in the West Philippine Sea which is within the Philippines' 200 nautical mile-exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines won the case against China in July 2016 when the UN court junked China’s nine-dash line claim on the entire South China Sea. The court also declared that the Spratly Islands (which include Mischief Reef), Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank are all within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

Duterte, however, has since shelved the victory in favor of warming up relations with China.

Kim said he is not surprised that the Philippines and the rest of the developing nations are working on improving their relationships with China since the latter is a rising power.

The US envoy, however, stressed that such efforts to reach out to China won't be enough to break the Philippines' ironclad ties with the US.

"What I focus on is whether that’s affecting our relationship negatively and my sense is that it’s not. Our alliance is unique. The Philippines only has one military alliance and that’s with the United States and that has not changed and will not change,” Kim added. —Llanesca T. Panti/KG, GMA News